George Orwell depicts a gray, totalitarian world dominated by Big Brother and its vast network of agents, including the Thought Police - a world in which news is manufactured according to the authorities' will and people live tepid lives by rote. Winston Smith, a hero with no heroic qualities, longs only for truth and decency. But living in a social system in which privacy does not exist and where those with unorthodox ideas are brainwashed or put to death, he knows there is no hope for him.

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Audible Editor Reviews

Why we think it's Essential: The ultimate dystopia. 1984 has come and gone, but Orwell is still as poignant as ever. Simon Prebble's narration, enriched with forboding music and effects, provides the perfect blend of seriousness and disaffection. Writ large in audio and rendered scarier than Stephen King on a late-night country-road drive, it makes you wonder all over again how right Orwell was. Chris Doheny

Publisher's Summary

Blackstone Audio presents a new recording of this dramatically popular book.

George Orwell depicts a gray, totalitarian world dominated by Big Brother and its vast network of agents, including the Thought Police - a world in which news is manufactured according to the authorities' will and people live tepid lives by rote.

Winston Smith, a hero with no heroic qualities, longs only for truth and decency. But living in a social system in which privacy does not exist and where those with unorthodox ideas are brainwashed or put to death, he knows there is no hope for him.

The year 1984 has come and gone, yet George Orwell's nightmare vision of the world we were becoming in 1949 is still the great modern classic portrait of a negative Utopia.

I'm a regular consumer of audio books, and Simon Prebble's narration brings this book to life with such pitch-perfect, jaw-dropping excellence that I'm at a bit of a loss how to praise him highly enough. Suffice it to say that I got so lost in the story that at times I forgot altogether that this was a book. Do yourself a favor and give this one a listen.

The narrator in this book is great! The drama and expression in his voice are fantastic. I have an hour drive one way to work and one day I was so engulfed in the book that I did not realize I had driven all the way home!
This book is very well done and well worth the time. I highly recommend this to all listeners of audio books

I previously downloaded a version of 1984 that sounded as if the thought police had shoved the novel where no darkness shines. However, This five star version of Orwell's masterpiece is so well voiced, so expressive that I find it hard to put down. In this novel, we are transported to an alternate reality where history is overwritten and free thought is a crime. Depite the constant threat of the telescreens, spies and thought police, Winston and his love interest, Julia, endeavor to rebel against Big Brother in their own ways. Orwell's insight into history, warfare and mass hysteria reflect the era in which he was writing, and still endure in this classic of science fiction- a piece that anticipates not only future works in the genre, but twentieth and twenty first century issues of foreign policy and state welfare. If you haven't read this book, you owe it to yourself to give this version a listen- it will challenge you and touch you, and I know that I, for one, will never be the same.

I am half way through the book but this is by far the best audio book that I have listened to. It is interesting and thought provoking at the same time. Every sentence in it is a quote in itself. And I just can't wait to listen o the rest of it.

I found the reading of 1984 by Simon Prebble to be one of the best narrative's I have ever listened to -- he makes all of the characters come to life and breaths a fantastic 'theater of the mind' experience that could only be rivaled by actually 'reading' the book. The story is as contemporary today, if not more so, as it was when it was first written over 60 years ago. Dark, fascinating, scary, and incredibly entertaining. I highly recommend. Enjoy!

I read this book a long, long time ago, but couldn't remember it at all so I decided to reread it. I am sure my life experiences and the perspective that comes with time have turned it into a much better book than I remembered it being. I found myself rooting for Winston, praying that he would have the strength of character to stand up and be the catalyst for change in this futuristic society, but he was so trapped on every side that he seemed to have no choice but to capitulate. The scary thing to me is that I get it. I understand it. Is our society headed in such a direction? It is my opinion that we will never go that far, but it is perplexing to me how many people are willing to give up their free agency little by little, of their own free will and choice. I don't want anyone else making my decisions, thank you. Yes I will make mistakes, sometimes bad ones, but this is my life to live the way I see fit, not anyone else's, least of all some nameless guy known only as "Big Brother." There is so much in this book for all of us to learn. Right now the biggest thing I am taking away from this book is gratitude for the freedoms I have left in this country, and for my own free will. It is and should be my most highly prized possession. I'm thinking that preserving our free agency is an underlying reason why God sent his Son to die for us. It's that important.

As always, Simon Prebble is an outstanding narrator. I love listening to him.

This is my very first review of an audiobook. I needed to write a review and say how great this reading is. I have read this book before and while it was an enthralling read, nothing compares to this audiobook. I agree with others that Simon Prebble adds a fantastic level of eeriness to the story. You are taken to this bleak and dark future of humanity. An excellent cross over between science fiction and political science. I am just as afraid of the possibility of this future as readers were sixty years ago. Don't stick your head down a memory hole -- remember this visionary tale when you see the parallels in today's global societies.

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